


Prince Lindworm (Or: A Very Long Excuse To Laugh At How Many Layers Sam Wears)

by maplewix (orphan_account)



Series: Samifer Fairy Tales [1]
Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Body Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:31:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1367338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/maplewix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Sam/Lucifer take on the story <em>Prince Lindworm</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prince Lindworm (Or: A Very Long Excuse To Laugh At How Many Layers Sam Wears)

**Author's Note:**

> Lindworm means serpent. Also, it’s fantasy, so screw your heterosexism. 
> 
> Warnings: whipping, childbirth, snakes, people being eaten by a snake
> 
> On tumblr [here.](http://samiferfairytales.tumblr.com/post/80694894329/prince-lindworm)

The king and queen were desperate for a child. The throne needed an heir, and they both longed to raise children as their own. The queen decided one day that since none of the remedies to their problem had worked so far, she would next try for a magical answer.

She went to the powerful witch called Meg, as none knew her by any name other than the one she had worn as a young girl, and begged her for a child to have for her own.

Meg offered the queen two flowers. “Eat one or the other, either way you shall bear two children. Beware! One of the flowers will cause you two have a monster for a son.”

The queen, though frightened by the witch’s words, took the flowers and hurried home. That night she debated long, searching for any hint of difference in the flowers that might mark one of them to be the monster child. As the night passed into morning, and the flowers began to wilt, she gave in, exhausted, and ate one of the flowers. Quickly she fell into a deep sleep.

Months passed and she grew heavy with her unborn children. The queen pushed her worries and the truth that one child could be born monstrous to the back of her mind, choosing instead to focus on her husband’s joy.

Their peace was not to last.

When the queen gave birth, the first child slithered out, an evil-looking Serpent that was all scales and claws and pointed teeth.

The midwife screamed.

The queen had her fling him from the room so that he slipped down the wall of the castle and disappeared from sight.

The queen was soon taken by pain again, and her daughter was born. Desperate and afraid, the queen had the midwife sent away and tried to convince herself that the Serpent had just been a product of her pain-wracked mind.

Years passed.

The princess grew up and wished to marry, and her parents were determined to help her achieve the best match. The princess soon became enamored of the heir to a neighboring kingdom, and the two spent a year in courtship before declaring their marriage. One day, as the two travelled from the castle to the countryside, they found their path blocked by an enormous, hideous Serpent.

“Marriage for me before marriage for you!” he cried, and no matter which way they turned, he blocked their path, crying out the words, until at last they gave up and returned to the castle.

The queen confessed the truth, weeping, and the king sent out word that his child, being careful not to say which one, needed a bride. Soon enough a princess arrived and was married to the serpent. Once the morning came, the servants opened the bedchamber in trepidation, only to find it quite clear that the princess had been eaten.

The princess and her betrothed once again tried to marry, but the Serpent reappeared to cry out, “Marriage for me before marriage for you!” until they gave in and had the king write to lands much further away to try and find someone to marry Prince Serpent.

A prince was consumed alive as well as another princess by the time the king and queen were ready to give up. It was at this time that a young man approached the witch, Meg, and asked her what she knew about Prince Serpent.

He told her that he didn’t want any more people to die, and she looked at him for a long moment with an odd gleam in her eyes before she told him what to do.

“When you go to retire after the wedding ceremony, you must dress yourself in ten shifts, and have the king and queen deliver to your room a tub full of lye, a tub of fresh milk, and as many whips as a boy can carry. Then, when the Serpent tells you to shed a shift, do you bid him slough a skin. And when all his skins are off, you must dip the whips in the lye and whip him. Next, you must wash him in the fresh milk; and, lastly, you must take him and hold him in your arms, if it’s only for one moment.”

The young man shuddered at the thought of the last instruction, but he agreed to do as she told him, and set off for the castle. The king agreed with hesitation to let the determined boy to marry the Serpent, and the wedding was held the next day. It was a grand affair, as was to be expected, but the somber air over the castle turned the ceremony dark and gloomy. Sam—for that was the boy’s name—had to hold back a cry of surprise when the Prince Serpent appeared to take their vows. The creature stared at him unblinkingly for the entire time, tongue occasionally flickering out to taste the air.

When the wedding and the feast afterward were done, the newlyweds were escorted to their rooms. The moment the door shut, the Serpent said to him, “Fair sir, shed a shift!”

Sam answered him, “Prince Serpent, slough a skin.”

“None have ever dared to tell me what to do,” he said.

“But I am commanding you to do what I say now,” Sam replied, and the Serpent squirmed free of his skin.

Sam pulled off his first shirt and laid it on top of the skin.

The Serpent eyed him warily, but said once more, “Fair sir, shed a shift.”

“Prince Serpent, slough a skin,” he said, and they repeated this dance until the Serpent was nothing but a wriggling, horrifying mass on the ground. Sam with trepidation seized a whip and dipped it in the lye. Remembering Meg’s words, he whipped the Serpent as hard as he could until the switch wore out, at which point he reached for the next one, and beat the Serpent until all the whips were worn down.

He then dragged the Serpent over to the milk, and bathed them both in it, clearing away the stench of the Serpent’s skins. Finally he carried the Prince Serpent to the bed and fell asleep instantly with his arms still wrapped tightly around him.

The next morning Sam awoke slowly to the distinct feeling of being watched. The memory of the previous night jumped to mind and his eyes shot open to find not the Serpent but a beautiful prince sitting beside him on the bed.

“Thank you, Sam,” he said, and offered him a hand to help him sit up. “You have freed me from the curse the witch Meg put on me at birth.”

Sam was silent, apprehensive and awed.

“You’ll be under no obligation to remain my husband,” he assured. “I will make that clear. The king will be by soon, no doubt expecting to find you long dead—” The tone in which he spoke the words made Sam’s neck prickle. “However, if you would so desire, you would be welcome to remain here in the castle as part of our family.”

Sam gave the offer hard thought over the course of the following day, full as it was of rejoicing with festivals and banquets and parties of all sorts. Sam could have sworn he saw Meg weaving through the crowds at one point, wearing a clever smile and an expression of satisfaction, and he had to wonder what she had been trying to accomplish.

In the end he found that he wanted to stay, and the royal family offered for his family to come live near the castle as well.

A year passed, and when the year had turned cold, Sam and the prince were married once again. They lived happy lives, and Sam was beloved by all the kingdom. Long was their reign as kings, and their rule was ample with triumph, for their love was some of the strongest seen in that land for much time.  

**Author's Note:**

> Works (heavily) referenced: Peter Christen Asbjørnsen. “East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Old Tales from the North (Illustrated).”


End file.
